The Single Woman and the Fairytale Prince

The number of one-person households is rising steeply all over the
world and a growing proportion of these 'new singles' are women. It
is estimated that one woman in three lives on her own. This
development reflects general social trends, ranging from rising
divorce rates to the growing professionalization of women and their
dissatisfaction with a traditional model that offers them a future
organized solely around 'husband-baby-home'. At the same time, the
attractions of that model still linger and the fairytale prince is
by no means a figure from a story or a remote past. Even in an age
in which the internet promises that love is 'just a click away',
many women still wait for their prince to come.

Jean-Claude Kaufmann's sympathetic study of the lives,
aspirations and sometimes despair of the 'new single women' is
based mainly on an analysis of a sample of the hundreds of letters
sent to Marie-Claire magazine after it published a first-hand
account of the single life. Funny, touching and at times profoundly
sad, the letters paint a collective portrait of the single woman
and her life that is both intimate and socially significant.
Kaufmann concludes by situating their stories in a broad
comparative context and considering the possible impact of novel
phenomena such as the recent vogue for 'mail-order brides'.

A highly original book about one of the key social changes of
our time: the growing numbers of people - in particular, the
growing numbers of women - who are living on their own.

Explores the tension between the desire of many woman to lead
independent, professional lives, on the one hand, and their longing
for a meaningful and fulfilling relationship with Mr Right - the
‘fairytale prince’ - on the other.

Ties in with the kinds of themes addressed by television and
popular culture - e.g. Sex and the City, Bridget Jones,
etc.

Includes up-to-date analysis of internet dating and
‘mail-order brides’.

A beautifully written and very accessible book about the
changing nature of personal life today, written by one of the
leading sociologists in France.

"Kaufmann is a wise and clever microsociologist, inspired by Erving
Goffman, by fashion magazines, and by kittenish and cougarish
women. He is the voice of the annoyed, the vexed, the fearful, and
the comforted."Contemporary Sociology

“Freedom and autonomy have their glories and their
miseries. Jean-Claude Kaufmann has composed a thoroughly researched
inventory of both, while analysing in depth the present-day
condition of women and its impact on the male half of humanity. As
women replace self-effacement with newly gained self-confidence,
the lynchpin is driven out of the family and the private sphere,
and the hard-to-reconcile drives to autonomy and companionship
result in the increasing fragility of commitments and fear of
loneliness for both women and men. In masterly fashion, Kaufmann
records the ongoing transformations in the human condition that
follow. His findings hit at the very heart of the harrowing
dilemmas which most men and women confront these days and struggle
to resolve.”Zygmunt Bauman, Universities of Leeds and Warsaw

“Anyone seeking to understand the fastest growing trend in
personal life – more people living alone – should read
this book. Jean-Claude Kaufmann moves elegantly between broad-brush
historical overviews of changes in family life and fine-grained
scrutiny of the narratives of women ensnared in the drama of these
new demographics. Paradoxically, the opening up of personal choices
for everybody seems to close down the options for many women, who
are finding it harder to find the partners they long
for.”Lynne Segal, Birkbeck College, author of Why
Feminism?

“This is a brilliant book on the everyday effects of the
rise in female singledom. Kaufman provides fascinating insights
into the pressures that single women experience today, from
society's disapproval of female autonomy as a threat to traditional
family models, to the hopes and disappointments of the modern
dating world.”Veronique Mottier, University of Lausanne

Instructors

Permissions

To apply for permission please send your request to permissions@wiley.com with
specific details of your requirements. This should include, the Wiley title(s), and the specific portion of the content you wish to re-use
(e.g figure, table, text extract, chapter, page numbers etc), the way in which you wish to re-use it, the circulation/print run/number of people
who will have access to the content and whether this is for commercial or academic purposes. If this is a republication request please include details
of the new work in which the Wiley content will appear.